Something Unexpected
by loyaltyXfaithXtrust
Summary: This is a Grey Griffins fanfiction. With these stories being so rare, I couldn't resist! Follow Genevieve in a haunting telling of The Revenge of the Shadow King.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Sometimes, Life just plain old sucks. Things might not always go your way, or any way at all it seems. Life isn't fair.

My mother told me, a long time ago, that Life either makes you or breaks you. Yet, if we are actually being honest with ourselves, can we truly afford to believe that? It's a nice thing for people to hold onto, I guess. But it isn't true. Life doesn't have to make you or break you. It doesn't have to choose one fate over another. Life doesn't play fair beause it can do both. A person must be broken before they can be remade.


	2. Chapter 1

I do not own anything from the Grey Griffins. I only own Genevieve.

Chapter 1

I stooped down and retied the laces of my sneakers. Well, not that I had to stoop very far. My 5".5 foot stature placed me a head below the average seventh grader. You'd think that turning 14 would mean a growth spurt, wouldn't you? Ha, me too.

I walked down the quiet streets, my shoes marking time against the sidewalk. Avalon, Minnesota was always quiet. Nothing overly exciting ever happened here. All the houses were cookie cutter houses with well-tended gardens and immaculate yards. It was nice for a while, but then the boredom begins to sink in. And at nine 'o clock on the last Saturday of the summer, it was even quieter than usual.

It didn't take very long to get where I was going. Iver's Shoppe of Antiquities was close to the center of the town in a warm red brick building. I passed under the archway that hid the door from what Iver referred to as 'prying eyes'. I opened the door and listened to the old fashioned doorbell tinkled overhead. Entering the store was almost the same as stepping into a treasure chest, or at least it was to me. Bookshelves lined the walls and shelves were laid out like a maze across the floor. I looked behind the counter, hoping to see Iver come out of the storage room. He wasn't there. There was no telling what Iver did when he wasn't around. Ivers just do what Ivers do, I guess.

The front counter was expansive, a giant wooden creature with carving and a built-in glass case to hold the smaller trinkets that Iver sold. Iver's shop held everything a person could want. It had every kind of book and more, trinkets, antiques, and an exclusive bounty of Round Table Cards. As far as I knew, no one else in town had ever held a Round Table card. The cards in my pocket grew a little bit heavier, and I swelled with a little bit of pride.

Making my way past the towering shelves, I went to the far back wall to a small staircase. Following it up, I ran my hands along the carvings on the wall. The farther up I went, the more carvings there were. They were strange symbols and I didn't know what they were for. But they looked cool and provided a mysterious feeling to every trip up the stairs. There were an abundance of crosses, short ones, tall ones, and ones with circles around them. A wooden door waited for me at the top of the stairs. I knocked three times and pressed my ear against the door. I heard small footsteps cross the floor.

"Password?" an imperious voice demanded. I smiled. I knew it was Natalia on the other side. But I also knew that I'd never get in if I didn't know the password.

"Excalibur." I whispered. With a sliding noise, Natalia undid the bolt and opened the door for me. "Good morning!" I said cheerfully. She smiled at me and waved me inside. She was dressed in costume, as per normal on Round Table days. Today's costume was an elf in a green dress, cape, and slippers. She twirled back to her place in the picture window and pulled out her unicorn decorated notebook of clues.

The room was dimly lit by a lamp hanging from the ceiling, but the picture window that overlooked the town square let in more than enough light. The light was slightly reflected by the main feature of the room, a giant round table. The table took up most of the space in the room. I sat down in one of its chairs and waited for the rest of the group to arrive. I looked around the room and tried to find pictures between the symbols on the walls. I had spotted a fish and a sheep holding a sword by the time Ernie showed up. Max followed soon after, looking a little flustered, to be honest.

"Hey, Max!" I called. He waved and sat down next to me. He looked like he hadn't slept in a few days. "Did Logan chase you out of bed for another 5 am kung fu lesson?" I asked him. He looked at me with one eye and yawned.

He stretched and leaned back in his chair. "Nah," he said between yawns. "Just didn't sleep well." He smiled and started talking to Ernie. I knew that excuse better than anyone. He must have started having bad dreams again. I frowned at him, but didn't push him. I wasn't going to force him to talk about it in front of everyone if he didn't want to. My mind was instantly distracted as the door opened. I half expected it to be Harley, the only one not to arrive yet. But the solid tread on the stairs could only be the owner of the Shoppe. Iver had arrived.

Iver was met with a chorus of greetings, all happy as puppies with a new toy. He closed the door behind him and slid back the bolt into place. He smiled at us and walked toward the chair at the head of the table. Ernie greeted him a second time with a exuberant 'good morning' before taking a bite out of his candy bar. Iver's eyebrows stormed together over his usually jolly eyes. "Indeed? You'd best be careful, wishing people a good morning. You wished me a good morning, whether I wanted it or not." He responded in a deep voice. Where he looked angry and acted sternly, I knew that he didn't mean it, not really. His eyes gave him away, the twinkle that was ever-present let on that he wasn't as upset as he pretended to be.

Iver was like an adoptive grandfather. He looked out for us, and let us all hang out in his store. He was one of the only adults in Avalon that truly understood us. We all had a slightly crazy thought that Iver might indeed be Santa Claus. He had silvery hair and a beard. His blue eyes always twinkled, no matter what he acted like. And he had a known disposition for giving presents at random moments. He was a really tall person. I had to look up at him even when he was sitting down. He had sloping shoulders and was very fit for an old guy. In fact, he never seemed old, except for his silvery hair, and never had a problem keeping up with a bunch of kids. Sometimes, we were hard put to keep up with _him! _ But no matter what, we loved him.

I gave him a mischievous look out of the corner of my eyes. "You didn't say the password, Iver." I chastised. I crossed my arms and Natalia looked up from her perch in the window to give him a disapproving stare.

Iver peered at us both and wrinkled his eyebrows again. "There may be a day when I must give password to my own shop, but it will not be any day within your future, Miss." He growled. I stared at him, initiating a staring contest. He towered over me, but I didn't let him intimidate me in the slightest. His eyes never wavered, and neither did mine.

"You never know Iver," I teased, "maybe we're taking over." He raised an eyebrow and I finally couldn't take it. I laughed and at last looked away. His base laugh joined mine and soon the rest of the Griffins' did, too.

When we finally settled down, Iver pulled out his own deck of Round Table cards. His silver knucklebones rested on top. Knucklebones were ten sided dice that decided the power, or lack of, of an attack. He carefully inspected each of our knucklebones to be sure that no one was trying to cheat. I knew he trusted us, but I guess he was being careful. When my own pair of black and white knucklebones was returned to me he clapped his hands. "Shall we begin?" he asked.

We looked around the table at each other. Only four of us were present. Harley still wasn't here, and we couldn't start without him. Ernie protested, "We can't start without Harley!" He was right. The Grey Griffins were like the Three Musketeers, expect bigger. 'All for one' and that stuff.

Natalia nodded. "We never leave anyone behind." She added. But within a moment of that statement, Harley was at the door. Once he was inside, he gave his knuckle bones to Iver for investigation. He apologized and took his space at the table. He pulled out his deck of cards and placed them on the table. Natalia, her detective's intuition at work, pointed out that one of Harley's cards was of a different design than the rest. Harley pulled out the suspicious card and frowned suspiciously.

"I'm not sure where this came from. I haven't seen it before." He said with a confused look. "It's an Oberon card." He informed us. I got out of my seat along with the others to look at the card from over Harley's shoulder. After I'd seen the card, I immediately wished I hadn't. It was a truly creepy card, with a scary looking creature staring maliciously back. I went back to my chair and tried to erase what I saw.

Iver must have agreed because he shepherded everyone back to their chairs. "I suggest that you put that card away, Master Einstein, and forget that you have it." We gave him a confused group look. The card was in every way creepy, but it was a powerful card. If he could use it to win, he could do that. He sighed. "Oberon is the Shadow King. It is a very rare card, true. But it is one not worth using. The card almost assures victory, but at what cost? Cards sometimes betray their users at the most inconvenient of times."

Harley reluctantly placed the card back in his pocket. I looked back at Iver and noticed that the lines around his eyes were still deep and worried. But when he saw the card put away, he seemed to relax. "Now," he announced. "That is enough dawdling. Are the Grey Griffins ready?"

We gathered our cards and knucklebones and prepared for a Round Table battle.


	3. Chapter 2

Sorry that this one's a little late. I hope everyone had a successfully scary Halloween! Enjoy!

~Chapter 2~

One of the best things about playing Round Table with Iver was the story line. Iver was a master at storytelling and could bring life to any tale. As Game Master, he decided when and where the story would take place along with the type of battle. Sometimes, Iver could get to real with a story, but I would never let a few shivers keep me from playing the game.

"Before we begin, I must set the scene," He began. He glanced around at each of us before carrying on. "Today will not be a free for all," he warned, "You must fight together. For an ancient evil has awoken to spread darkness across this land." He paused, giving the quiet room an ominous feeling. Shivers of anticipation ran up my spine. Looking over to my fellow Griffins, I saw that they were reacting in the same way. Together we would have to rely on our smarts, our magic, and the cards in our hands to save the day.

Shuffling his cards, Iver's deep voice rang in the little room. "I must tell you. If you fight, there will be little chance for survival. Yet if you do not stand, then life as you know it will change forever."

In the blink of an eye, Iver had several cards face down on the board. The board was made up of a map with extra attachments to accommodate the six players in our group. Iver, knowing the rules of the game, would give us ten seconds to rally our troops before he attacked.

We huddled together to plan out a strategy. We had never fought as a group before. I came to stand behind Max's chair and next to Ernie. Nervous, I bit my lip and crossed my fingers. I looked over at Ernie as he began to speak. "W-What are we going to do?" he stuttered. He was afraid of facing Iver, I guess, even though it was just in a card game. I couldn't blame him, Iver was hard to beat. Without missing a beat, Max raised his knucklebones. Looking at the other's to see if they agreed, I turned back to face Iver.

"We fight." I declared.

*~A few minutes later~*

I knew that we didn't really have a choice, but fighting against Iver might not have been the best thing to do. He took no time deciding whether to build his defense or offense. He had revealed a gruesome army of goblins, werewolves, and a creepy looking Slayer Goblin. He challenged us one by one, which was pretty scary, and we fell one by one, too.

The bad thing about Round Table was that when you lost, the victor took the prize. And the prize is the defeated card. Being so, Iver had taken most of everyone's cards. The weeks and months we had put into collecting those cards made each loss a rather bitter defeat. With five-to-one, we should have beaten Iver through sheer numbers, but his cards were just too powerful. After a while there was no clear winner, and as dusk took the place of afternoon, we had to pause the game. We would have to restart the game next Saturday.

Iver bobbed his head with an appreciating smile. "You have all fought valiantly," he said approvingly. I couldn't tell how he got that impression. The few cards I had left in my hand were telling me otherwise. Harley looked across the table. I shrugged back at him, trying to make sure that Iver didn't see. Frowning at the looks on all of our faces, Iver continued on. "Winning was not today's goal," he noted with a glance around the table. "We were instead practicing survival," he said. With that he pushed a small stack of cards across the table's worn surface to each of us; our lost cards. I looked up at his bearded face in surprise. His gesture was generous to say the least. "My greatest concern, my Grey Griffins, was that you all learned something."

Overjoyed to have her cards back, we were all happy to be reunited with our cards, Natalia barely looked up from her stack to speak. "What do you mean?" she asked. I wanted to know, too. Max looked at Iver confusedly from his chair. I hadn't realized that Iver was trying to teach us anything at all. Trying to keep from blushing, I tried not to let on that I hadn't learned anything. I didn't want to let Iver down if he thought it was an important lesson. But Iver merely chuckled in response to Natalia's question. Iver usually meant exactly what he said, even though he didn't always make sense. Unbolting the door, we followed him from the little room and back down the symbol encrusted walls to the main shop. He sent us on our way to hurry for our dinners that he said were 'in no doubt waiting impatiently'. And so, with our final goodbyes, we left.

We walked until we met the tree line. Then we began the trek toward our secret fortress, or more accurately, Max's tree house. And not that it was a secret either. It was the only place besides Iver's shoppe that we spent the bulk of our time. A tree 'house' wasn't a very good way to describe it. It was much more of a castle than a house. It had three turrets among the surrounding trees that connected to the main part by swinging rope bridges. My grandparents would have heart attacks if they saw me swinging across the bridges. Overall, it was the headquarters of the Grey Griffins, and super cool, too.

We ran up the stairs that would around the trunk of the tree. And once inside, we made ourselves comfortable around a low table. I grabbed an over-stuffed pillow and flopped down, ready to talk.

Ernie was the first one to open his mouth. But I wish he hadn't, because I could see the remains of one of his candy bars still globed on his braces. "Why were you all late, Harley?" he asked the taller boy. I had noticed the dirt on Harley's jacket when he first came earlier today. That wasn't out of the ordinary for Harley, though. Sometimes I thought that Harley lived outside more than the raccoons did. He was always hiking or camping around Lake Avalon when he wasn't four wheeling or with us. But now that I stopped to look closer at him, I saw that he had some weird scratches on him. I frowned at him.

"Mom and I had to take Roscoe to the vet this morning," he grumbled. Ernie coughed, probably choking on his candy bar, and gulped. Roscoe was Harley's giant coonhound. He had a taste for mailmans and tires, but he was a super sweet dog. Nothing could have hurt him! I gripped my pillow tighter.

"He's okay, right?" Natalia cried out. She was tearing up and I had to look away from her, or I would start to cry, too.

Harley sighed. "He must've gotten something cornered," he explained. "I let him out this morning and he took off into the bushes barking. I thought he was chasing a squirrel or something like that. But then I followed that stupid dog and he was whimpering. Whatever it was was fighting back." Max looked at him in concern, we all did. "The weird thing was that, when I shined my flashlight at it, its eyes didn't flash back like a deer's would. We took him to the vet after I finally got him back inside." Max had turned pale. Wiping my eyes to keep them dry, I squirmed deeper into my spot.

"Are you both okay?" Natalia sniffed. Harley nodded, but didn't say anything more.

Max had to leave early because he was staying at his grandma's house. We all went from the tree house and split up to go to our own homes. "Do you think you'll be fine walking home by yourself?" I asked Harley, glancing around. "I don't want to leave you here if that thing might still be out here somewhere."

Harley scuffed the toe of his shoe in the dirt. The rut looked like a division between the brush and the grass. He gave me a small smile after a minute. "I'll be ok, Anna. But thanks." He said hesitantly. And then he started to walk home.

I turned and began to make my own way back to the street, hoping to make it home before the streetlights came on.


End file.
